


Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation

by Cesare



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Pre-Slash, meet cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-19
Updated: 2012-01-19
Packaged: 2017-10-29 19:49:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/323507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cesare/pseuds/Cesare
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired by <a href="http://rainboxxx.tumblr.com/post/16011434629/shopping">art from rainboxxx</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation

In the grocery store parking lot, Erik stares after a car with a "Humans First" bumper sticker; even here, now, just trying to do ordinary chores, he's confronted with this garbage. He could reach into the engine and crush it, bring that car to a halt, roll it back here and demand to know exactly how the driver intends to put humans first. And he's tempted.

But no. Erik promised Magda that for Wanda and Pietro's sake, he'd stay out of trouble, and while she's never threatened to change the custody agreement or withhold his visitation rights if he falls short, she could, easily enough. God knows the human courts would be on her side. Erik settles for using his power to separate the cheap chrome paint of the bumper from the underlying plastic, watching the bumper sticker peel off and fall to the muddy pavement where it belongs.

Unsatisfied, he shoves his cart toward the corral and whips it into line with the others without looking. Only to hear a startled male shout; he turns to see a young man holding a paper bag of groceries hit the asphalt.

"I'm sorry," Erik says gruffly, offering a hand.

"Quite all right, you were nowhere near me," comes the reply, a baritone voice, an English accent. The young man takes Erik's hand and pulls himself up, managing to keep the paper bag of his groceries balanced in his other arm. "Thank you. I'm afraid I was bowled over by a cart rolling by. At speed! I didn't realize the car park was so uneven."

"It's not," Erik says. "That was me. I'm a mutant."

"Oh!" the young man improbably smiles, and his lips don't budge from that smile even as his voice continues, «In that case, hello.»

*

It turns out that the young man is named Charles Xavier, he's a telepath, and in his encounter with Erik's cart, he tripped on the curb and sprained his ankle. He refuses to let Erik take him to a hospital or call him a cab. "We're just outside a supermarket with a pharmacy in. I'll pop back in and get an ankle brace, wrap it up, it'll be fine."

"You can't walk on that," says Erik, annoyed.

"A cab would be overkill," Charles explains finally, "I only live three blocks away. Worst comes to worst, I can hop that far," and that's so ridiculous that Charles completely deserves the alternate solution that Erik insists upon.

"Uh... Charles?" a young blonde woman calls to them from just outside the address Charles gave.

"Raven!" Charles waves broadly to her from the basket of the shopping cart that Erik's pushing with his ability. As the blonde approaches, he beams, "Raven, this is Erik Lehnsherr. I twisted my ankle in the supermarket car park, he's playing Good Samaritan."

"I twisted his ankle in the first place," Erik says tersely.

"Erik, this is my sister Raven, she's a mutant as well," Charles says.

"You must be new in town," says Raven, shifting her purse and an armful of flowers to shake Erik's hand.

"Must I." He is, in fact. He's only been in town three days now.

"Yeah. Or Charles would've sensed you before," Raven informs him, shifting focus to her brother. "Are you okay?"

"Fine, fine. I picked up the bread," Charles answers, indicating a baguette in the paper sack on his lap.

"I got you flowers for your birthday," says Raven, "but I guess now they can be Get Well Soon flowers."

"I twisted your ankle on your birthday?" Erik asks.

"You should have dinner with us!" Charles suggests, turning to look at Erik. "We made lasagna, we always make too much. It's the least I can do, you were so kind." He turns back to Raven. "He went back into the pharmacy and found a compression bandage that gets cold at room temperature, and wrapped up my ankle for me. And he insisted on bringing me home."

Raven surveys Charles's awkward position in the cart with a skeptical look and raises her eyebrows at Erik. "Yeah, I can see he's a prince."

"Rest, ice, compression, and _elevation,"_ Charles waggles his bandaged leg, which is undeniably elevated, given that Charles is sitting in the basket of the cart with both legs poking up and out. "Neither of us had a car."

"Okay, okay," says Raven, and to Erik, "Would you join us? Before you say no, who are these crazy people... just keep in mind, you banged up his ankle and brought him home in a shopping cart. On his birthday."

"Thank you for the invitation," Erik says, with every intention of following that with a 'but' and possibly after that a 'hell, no', but Charles turns and gives Erik another sunny smile. Erik stumbles, falters, and says, "Sure."


End file.
